Piece by piece

Art department holds show

Ashlan Morgan, Staff Writer • November 11, 2021

The Campus Show art gallery was curated by senior Ella Reaugh, senior Karlee Williams, junior Simi Fadel, and sophomore Lane Beller. The gallery was open from Nov. 3 through the 10th.

The high school’s art department held a campus show from Nov. 3 to Nov. 10 that was curated by students. The gallery displayed drawings, paintings, and sculptures that were created by students in all levels of art classes. TRL’s Ashlan Morgan interviewed the creators of four pieces displayed in the show.

Rosemary Archer – Botanical Collection

Archer’s collection portrays three different pieces. Each piece has a type of chip bag filled with flowers which are blooming out. The first piece on the left is a Lays barbecue chip bag created using watercolor paints on a white paper substrate. The second piece in the middle is a Funyuns bag created digitally on an iPad. The third piece on the right is a Cheetos bag created using colored pencil on a black paper substrate. It took Archer two weeks to finish her collection. The project’s prompt was “a collection of organic materials”. Archer used “the flowers in [her] piece to represent organic and incorporated the chip bags to contrast the flowers.” The meaning behind the organic contrasts is “to show how trash can be brought to life when organic materials are added to them.” Her collection “pushed [her] to focus on the details and [to learn] how to apply those with different media.”

Becca Wang – Human Self-Rescue Guide

Wang’s collection includes three pieces. Two of which are created using Chinese watercolor and micron on hot-press watercolor paper. The third is a small book including art pieces made using the same forms of media as the mounted pieces. It took Wang a week and a half to complete her pieces. The project’s prompt was a “How-To” piece. Wang combined this prompt and a personal story to make it “both narrative and instructional”. The meaning behind the story portrayed in the collection was “guiding you through the process of being reborn and self saving from depression.” It also follows “being bullied and losing hope for life, and when you go to heaven, you gain love from God” and “[coming] back to earth and telling people your story.” The text within the pieces is written in ancient classical Chinese language and has a purpose to be read in both instructional and narrative ways.

Connor O’Donnell – Fire Igniter

O’Donnell’s sculpture is a wooden fire extinguisher with a light flickering in the side. The extinguisher is made of plywood which O’Donnell cut into rings and stacked on top of each other. He used a cutting knife to cut cracks in the wood, red stain for the color effect and a grill in order to burn the wood. It took O’Donnell two weeks to complete the sculpture. The concept of the piece was to create “a bit of irony” because “fire extinguishers aren’t supposed to be on fire, they’re supposed to put out fires.” The light and tissue paper within the extinguisher are made to look like “it is still burning.” O’Donnell’s main goal was to capture the irony of the wood and fire relationship.

Dillon Hughes – Fortune

Hughes’ collage piece is made to interpret the word fortune. The collage is made from a woodblock covered with Prismacolor, paper cut outs and gesso paint. The woodblock was first covered in a bright blue gesso layer, then the cut out collage was applied and it was finished off with a vibrant Prismacolor layer. It took Hughes two weeks to complete the collage. The project’s idea was for students to choose a word that resonated with them and create a collage to represent it. Hughes chose the word fortune for his collage because “the idea of knowing your fortune and future, obsessing over the idea of knowledge you’re not supposed to know is a cool idea.” Fortune is commonly “seen from a fortune teller or fortune cookies.” Hughes wanted to “showcase how often we glorify and uphold the future” and to have “stronger attention on the present.”

About the Contributors

Ashlan Morgan, Staff Writer

Senior Ashlan Morgan is entering her final year of high school as a first year staff writer on The Red Ledger. Outside of school, Morgan keeps her Enneagram 4 self entertained by reading books, taking pictures of sunsets or stargazing. She often finishes books in one day and has a strange amount of luck seeing shooting stars. Morgan also enjoys going on runs, driving around with friends and collecting bucket hats. Her biggest passion is writing and one day hopes to become an author. Morgan is excited to savor her senior year on staff of TRL.

Sydney Stout, Photographer

Senior Sydney Stout is excited to return to The Red Ledger this year as a photographer. She worked for four years as a photographer. You can often find Stout on the football field running around with a giant camera around her neck or in the newsroom. She walks with a pep in her step and is always willing to chat. Stout enjoys running, debate, photography, traveling and driving around with friends. She is friendly, kind, and in some ways, in her world, an “icon.” She is an outstanding friend and is excited to see what this year has in store for her.

Olivia Lauter, Section Editor

Heading into her fourth and final year in TRL, senior Olivia Lauter could not be more thrilled to soak up every last minute of shooting sports, events and portraits for her favorite publication. Lauter has spent every day of her high school career with a camera around her neck, and you won’t catch her without it until graduation day. As well as being the photo editor for TRL, Lauter is a varsity cheerleader and involved in PALS and NHS. When she’s not on the sidelines with her camera or cheering on the Leopards, Lauter is with her friends, who she adores more than life itself. You will probably hear “last time, best time” and how “bittersweet” senior year is continually from Lauter this year, but she is just excited to spend one more year doing what she loves alongside the people she loves on TRL.